An Ordinary Day
by AngelOfBlackBlood
Summary: Just an ordinary day for Dumbledore.


**Author's Note- Round 11, Year- 1958 and ordinary day. **

Sunlight filtered through slightly murky windows, casting streams of light along wooden tables and revealing layers of dust. Thick leather-bound books littered various ink stained surfaces as several hands scribbled furiously across smudged pages.

It wasn't long until exams started and the panic was evident amongst a few hard working students, their faces decorated with deep lines from worry.

The rhythmic scratch of quills on parchment and shallow breathes was all that could be heard. Nobody moved when the headmaster wandered in, not one head lifted and no hands paused. This wasn't unusual in the slightest, at times like these with exams so close, no one tended to pay any attention to their surroundings, preferring instead to cram as much information into their heads as humanly possible.

Sucking on a sherbet lemon Dumbledore, slowly wandered amongst the aisles of students, sneaking quick glances at the titles of their papers and notes but not offering any advice through fear of disturbing them from their glassy eyed studying.

After nearly an hour of slow pacing, students began to move, some heading off too bed to catch a few hours of sleep before supper and others to sit around the fires in the common rooms, chatting and taking a well earned break.

It looks like the end of this day was to be as boring and ordinary as the rest of it. It is almost unusual for a day to be this straightforward and plain. Breakfast had been a quiet affair; no one was awake enough to do anything other than eat and quietly mutter. Lunch had been no different either, a couple of paper birds fluttered around, but the noise didn't get any louder than a quiet whisper echoing around the hall.

Ordinary days such as these are never fun; there had been no explosions in the potions rooms, no severe illnesses in the hospital wing and no failed transfigurations. The most interesting thing that had happened to Dumbledore today had involved talking to an owl about his dreams, and he hadn't even gotten a proper reply.

Dumbledore roamed the halls of Hogwarts while waiting for dinner. Every now and then ghosts could be seen drifting through walls and the odd student would flitter from one end of a corridor to another, rushing to find someone or something.

Portraits chattered amongst themselves and chirped cheerful hellos as Dumbledore slowly shuffled along the hallways. Even the moving staircases weren't enough to lift Dumbledore's spirits; ordinary had definitely become boring.

The thing on Dumbledore's mind today is a thought that often haunted his free time, the feeling of not belonging and the fear of not living up to the last head teachers standards. These two things swirled like a poisonous storm inside Dumbledore's head, slowly infecting everyone else's mood.

These thoughts were like sickening tendrils clinging to Dumbledore's mind, it didn't matter what he did, he could never get them to let go. Thoughts of failure chased him into the dream world and stalked him across the school grounds. They were always waiting to pounce during any moment of discomfort or insecurity.

It wasn't that he had been a bad headmaster in the time that he had been employed as one, but the fear of messing something up in the future was enough to make Dumbledore retreat inside his own head.

Now some may have asked why did he remain the headmaster if he felt like he didn't deserve it, why did he not just quit? Well, the answer to that was simple despite feeling worthless at times and a failure at others Dumbledore felt like he had a higher purpose, one that had not come to light yet. Deep down he had known quitting was something he would never be able to forgive himself for: he couldn't afford to miss what was coming.

After walking for over an hour Dumbledore made his way down to the kitchens, the house elves down there always made him feel better.

As per usual the house elves knew just how to cheer him up and he left the kitchens with a freshly replenished pocket of sherbet lemons and a smile that had been missing for most of the day.

Dinner was another quiet event, but it seemed like more of a peaceful quiet rather than a tense one. Candles gently floated above everyone's head, swaying slightly in the breeze from the heavy wooden doors.

Up at the top of the hall Dumbledore couldn't help but look out at all of his students; they were mostly a hard working bunch, with a few troublemakers but school life wouldn't be any fun without them. Watching them as they quietly discussed homework or chocolate frog cards Dumbledore, knew his sense of future purpose wasn't the only reason he stayed around. These students were just as important as anything he may do later in life.

The wide smile that lit up Dumbledore's face then was enough to make several of the Hufflepuff students stop and stare, for they had never seen Dumbledore look so happy over anything.

Once dinner was over and all the students had departed for their common rooms either to sleep or to play some sort of game with friends, Dumbledore found himself roaming the corridors once more. He had been doing that a lot recently; it was a great way for him to just think and let his feet carry him wherever they wanted.

His sudden realisation at dinner had left a small smile on his face, and perhaps now he could stop looking so distracted and depressed and actually be of some use.

Yes, it definitely had been a perfectly ordinary day. Perhaps tomorrow would bring something more interesting.


End file.
